I Stand Redeemed

By Godiva Lucille Amenu (Cookie Lu)

sometimes i breathe in just to see how deep my insecurities sink

emotions cannot be suppressed for so long so i speak and it drips

like fresh honey leaving a faint remainder of what should have been

like an empty vase i feel liberated; just for a little while see it doesn't last long

dancing in a limbo of a tear jerking heart and too many unspoken words and

stifled mourning, i smile but it never quite reaches the brim of my eyes


i seek an inner peace which man cannot render unto me because

that which is not assured cannot keep me safe and secured

i seek life, one which is everlasting and awakens the dead bones

lying dormant in the pit of my soul, i want to be made whole so i will

no longer have to lose hope when i'm tied in a rope and with dashed goals



so i'm walking with my Father, my King, i'm trusting and loving Him

because in the quiet whisper of dawn when i'm down on my knees

and drowing in my pain and grim with clouded vision and haunting dreams

He pulls me up and cleanses my being, now when i laugh, u can tell from my beam

ive been redeemed, what shall i say unto my Lord? all i have to say is thank you, akpe akpe.

I do

This hour is the very one I had seen from afar
Then it was too far to touch
And too silly to imagine
But the hour cometh and I can also do
Do the things I dreamed of
And cover the tracks of my forbearers

To those who smile with me I praise thee
And to those who fought by me
With spear and arrow
Through the nights that seemed endless
I will engrave your titles in my heart
And keep the tears we shed in the days the went by

I lift up my eyes and see in the sky
A darkened cloud of toil and tears
But behind this cloud I the brighter galaxy
Stars of abundance and of reward
It’s a matter of time, it’s just destiny, it’s just mine
I say I do

Happy Birthday!

Like gold and all the spritely ornamently things of this world
Our friends illuminate our moments with beauty and charm
Unlike these ornaments they bear life and emotion and passion
That fuel our daily experiences with such zest and completeness

Yearly, just as all objects of life
They're bestowed with age and growth and maturity
Emerging into the capable people who shape the destiny of the planet

As you notch up a year older
May life's beautiful angels smile at you broader

A very happy birthday, friend

Three senses of football

Watch as they move

In well coordinated choreographed delightful patterns

As they trace their paths in attack and defence

Producing sweet touches of smooth skills

True nourishment to our ocular organs

Hearken the drum and cymbal sounds

Of our mighty thundering fans

As they sing and cheer and clap

Through the many many minutes of anxiety

Pleasing our warriors with their harmonious melodies of endless ecstasy

Feel the pulses of young and old alike

Feel skin surfaces contract and heart rates surge

As the opponents lunge in dangerous menacing attacks

Feel our delightful upswelling passions

As the global leather rolls into the net and our men wear their crowns

Ayeeko to The The Black Satellites for winning the golden fleece

Reminisce

By Michael Kwame Dakwa

You passed through my night

...and long after sleep was gone
you lingered as an unshakable mist,
reminding me of the
heartache that is the hole
your words once held their place...

The Immortality of Nkrumah

In the beginning there was nothing

And out of nothing Yahweh called everything

First the angels and demons to keep the mortals busy

Then the women of the earth to remind man of his existence

After all was set and after all had been written

Yahweh called Nkrumah to stay in between the mortals and the immortal

To call for war at a time everything seemed peaceful

A mission to save the lost from its leash and its destiny

And begin a new path into a different generation

After that mission was done and all covered,

Nkrumah crossed the line

The line that separated mortals from those who never saw death

And built a home amongst the living and shared in their greater pain

From far up in the skies Yahweh unchained the punisher

The hibernating demons that lay in wait and smelled the blood of heroes

This time to spark a begging of the end of immortality among men

And so history was ordered to record it, Nkrumah the last immortal man

100

As you celebrate a hundred,
In plain tongue We express our aches
The pain that lingers in the heart of the young
To see a Ghana at a standstill

As you celebrate a hundred,
The very wall you built to keep knowledge
Are the ones that still stand.
And they do so all alone in loneliness
No sibling to look up to.
I look into the eyes of my kinsmen
And lo I see a fire and desire
A zeal to dare into the greener lands
A quest into the unknown.

As you celebrate a hundred,
Far away,in the wilderness,
there is clan of the African family
A family of strong arms and smart minds
Yet have no lands to till
and no draught to play

As you celebrate a hundred,
More and more warriors in their
search for the pot of wisdom
Bite off a piece of their sleep to other
And with it their strength to fight

As you celebrate a hundred,
I look again down the valley
I see a throng of fighter
And behind them a fire of change
In your next birthdays to come this army
Will buy you the biggest birthday cake

Dreams

When hearts break and dreams are forgotten

Tides of the ocean pull and pull themselves away

Away to the land and place of the aimless

When nature’s arms seem to curse man’s vision

Bachelors remain ringless

And the barren is still childless

Servants continue in their servitude

Showers of hope will come upon the ambitious

Looking up into the heavens there is a God

A God who will and A God who can

Behold the bachelor becomes a groom

The barren outdoors her triplets

And the servants begin to rule the world

All it takes is a dream

world of silence

aboard a trotro, by the right window side,

emotions running bare, with the shared rythms of calming music through my earphones,

peeping outside the window, in search of answers to this 'self inflicted pain'

moving steadily, like the the tears streaming from the bleeding in my heart...
...since its bloodyness will be too frighting to view by onlookers.

Like an answer to my search, i see the machine...ending with the last alphabet...
A machine which caught my attention...and paused my heart for a second.

whithin this attention, i saw my visions on the right seat, with comfort which this trotro denied me...

then the bleeding paused into a world of silence and peace.

My Dance

In the middle of the winter moments in Africa

The bridge which connected the East coast

To the West beaches came down

And with it the little dwarfs that had made

The bridge their home.

Forever came to an end

And Dreams never got a chance to start

Love was wiped from the menu in the snow

Soon came the wind that had prophesied it.

It was surely to be the last dance

Undesirable feeling

22^nd July, 2009

Around 11:00 pm

What's this feeling that is

Choking my emotion, distracting my attention

Fevering my body, holding my muscles

Creeping into my mind, dulling my senses

Quenching my passion, eroding my stamina

Stifling my thinking, fuelling my inactivity

Inducing my sleep, dipping my alertness

Engaging my procrastination, clipping my productivity

Dwindling my savings, boosting my poverty?

H-O-P-E

In the eyes of the little boy down the streets
The one drenched in hunger and poverty
Whose daily life is immersed in misery
Are the pointers to what defines our being

Daily we watch this young chap strive to live
In search of bread and butter, he hits the streets
And wanders thereabout till nightfall
Truly, he is a far cry from survival

Yet he dreams!
He dreams of an education
At the bright and colourful world-learning centres
Within the walls where great minds hold sway
Clutching to the quest for a better tomorrow
In his dreams he owns mansions and castles and gadgets
In his dreams he leads to build to keep opportunities
For the younger ones to come

In wonderment and puzzlement you thus ask
"Wherein lies his inspiration?"
The tonic that drives his life is________ hope

Spiritual irony

They invade my peaceful abode
With their cars and mini vans
An army of dedicated faithful
Ready to serve the master

With shrieks and shouts and howls
They disturb my sleep and thoughts
In the deep of the night and in the early morn
They do all these in vain
'Cos they try to reach a God who loves silence

In Pencil

I write in Pencil,
So I can erase and maybe change some things...

Sometime past, I wanted to etch some memories with pencil
So I could erase and maybe change some things.

But an indelible ink it is...our memories.
Events lined up in ink...where only darkness makes it clean as erased.
The bright light of remembrance reveals the flaw of that darkness

Oh how I wish I could write them in Pencil.
So I could erase them and maybe...change some things.

Last Call

Call me blue and see me through
Make me lie and take me up high
Peel me naked and fined me scared
A star I am just for a single stare
Hope I have but for a divine slope
Far I will go to rub all my tar
Near I will come to wipe your sweet tear
Lame I am within your love to tame
Desert your dream and follow me to the dessert
Wide awake my spirit stays upon the near Lake
A dove I send to you only to deliver my Love

The Visitor

The visitor who never stays
The only thing he does is stray

Stay into my beautiful garden
Without asking for my parden

He plucks the prettiest of flowers,
And sucks out the brightest of colours.

The visitor who never stays
The only thing he does is stray

Stay into all that is perfect
And destroy it with the least of respect.

He keeps on doing all this,
And makes gardening not worth all this.

The visiter who never stays but strays...

MY PEN AND I

Each time I lay down and cry,

It’s always been my pen and i

Each time love seems nigh, it’s always my pen and i

It’s the closest friend I’ve ever had,

When everything went bad.

When no one seemed to understand me,

All it does is to understand me.

It rymes with my soul and

Helps me to my goal

Each time am in despair

We are always the perfect pair,

Where would i be?

without my pen by me...

Untitled Verses

Running from the depths of my emotion
in the fields where feelings are manufactured
I still feel its nauseating pangs
this loneliness could be a killer

At day it dominates my utmost thoughts
at night it becomes my 'undependable' companion
as even sleep eludes my eyes
and anxiety rules all the way through

It started when you packed your baggage
and quietly walked out of the door
that rainy night several moons ago
then I indulged myself in great pretence
that my soup was not as salty and the bed just warm enough
nay! For I fooled even myself

The solution lies in my mind, I reckon
or perhaps the control of the disposition of the spirit
I'd search far and near for what I hope to be the cure
yet for now let me contend with these untitled verses

The lonely eagle

-->

Up above in the skies I see

My kind soaring above

Revelling in their might

Their song sweet to sing

Especially in the nights

Here I am a lonely eagle on the ground

Flight seems like fright

And soar like sore

My wings are clipped

And my dreams almost gone

Yet I know like all eagles I must fly

I know home lies in the sky

I am an eagle son of the sky

Homeward I will head

But until my frail wings become fortified with enough keratin

The ground remains my humble abode